Triplets
by yzzilbe
Summary: Gideon, Luke and Catherine are not the only triplets at Fenton Lodge, and their abnormal powers are reflected in the other three...
1. Chapter 1: The First

"Dax," Owen looked uncertain. How best to phrase this? "Um… You know Luke? And Catherine?"

"Yeah, sure I do. You know I do, Owen. Get to the point."

"Well, they're not the only Colas to be discovered late."

"What?! You're joking, right?" Dax was shocked. How could there be any more surprise Colas? "You have got to be kidding. What now?"

"This sounds crazy, but… " Owen hesitated. It sounded almost stupidly crazy, now…

"Just tell me already!" said Dax impatiently.

"We found this out this morning. There's another shapeshifter. His name's Shan Vuori. He should be coming to stay here pretty soon, as soon as I drive over and sort things out with his parents."

"You mean… I'm not the only one any more?"

"No. Dax, you are no longer the only shapeshifter here at Fenton Lodge."


	2. Chapter 2

Shan Vuori was running. He glanced over his shoulder quickly, but saw they were still following him. Maybe he could escape at the park. He kept running, feet pounding over the pavement, his schoolbag thudding against his back with each stride. Today would not be a good day to get caught - they were lazy and resented having to run after him.

Shan had been bullied for much of his life. He'd moved around a lot, with his father's job, and so was always that new kid that didn't fit in, that new kid who joined the school after everyone else had formed groups. This school was by far the worst. It was a private boarding school for kids whose rich parents couldn't deal with them, either because they were time-consuming or because they were "difficult"; and he had joined it just a few weeks before the end of the summer school had a strong hierarchy, from the toughest bully to the weakest smallest kid, so the students had spent the last few weeks finding out where Shan stood. It wasn't very high up.

These pursuers were part of Seth's gang, and considered it their duty to find those smaller than themselves and, as they made their way home on a Friday, show them where they stood in the rankings. Shan was glad he didn't have to stay at school at the weekends, like many kids did. Some didn't even leave for the summer.

Shan rounded the corner and sprinted through the gates of the park, desperate to escape into the huge meandering space. Suddenly, he stopped. Seth was standing down the path, talking to another of his cronies. The boy interrupted Seth abruptly, pointing at Shan. Shan froze in terror as he turned his cold gaze towards him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah, Shan. How nice of you to join us. Aren't you supposed to be with some of our mutual friends right now? It looks like they really want to be with you - they seem to be running pretty fast." Seth smirked, seeing Shan's shocked expression. "What, you're not going to run to meet them? They look pretty upset."

Shan was shaking. Seth began to walk towards him, the boy he had been talking to following him closely. Shan could hear the footfalls of those who were chasing him getting closer. This was not good.

Shan desperately threw himself into the bushes at the side of the path, battling his way through the dense vegetation. As he shoved branches out of his way, others leapt at him, tearing at him and whipping back in his face. He could hear Seth behind him: "Hey, you three! Follow him" and there was some grumbling, until "Go! Now!" and there was a crashing noise at the edge of the bushes. It was almost jungle-like here, with this side of the path covered in trees and bushes of all types.

Suddenly Shan had a horrible thought. The reason it was so jungle-like here and not a neat, ornamental flowerbed, was because it wasn't actually that deep in the park - just before you got to the start of St. Agnes forest, there was the park fence. He was trapped, a tall solid fence in front and Seth and his gang behind. Nowhere to run.


	4. Chapter 4: The Second

Shan felt the panic rising. What could he do? They were going to catch him. There was no doubt about it now - he could see the strong fence ahead of him, barring his way from the empty open forest beyond. If only he could get past it somehow… It was too tall to climb, and there was no way he would fit through the bars. Or would he? It was worth a try. He thrust his shoulder through the bars, and just as he tried to get his arm through he heard a shout behind him. "Hey, Seth! We've got him now, he's stuck in the fence!" Shan was shaking, panicking. It was true - he was stuck. Of all the stupid things to happen… He could hear them crashing through the bushes, closer and closer, and he was truly trapped. There was no way out. He wriggled and squirmed, trying desperately to go through the fence, to be on either side but just not stuck in it. Suddenly, with an almost audible _pop_ he went through. He ran, not looking back.

"Hey, where'd he go? I swear he was here a minute ago…"

"I can't see him anywhere."

"Looks like he vanished."

Another voice broke through the bemused mumblings, one with authority and lots of anger."You idiots! How on _Earth_ can he just have vanished? You were watching him the whole time! Tell me where he is!"

"N-no, really, he just vanished…"

"He was there, and then he wasn't…"

"Well he didn't turn invisible, did he?" Seth was livid with rage. He hated losing. "You must have seen him run off somewhere!"

Seth's friends looked anxiously at their feet. "Didn't see nothing, Seth…"

"Yeah, all I saw was a fox running into the woods. Noise must've scared it."


	5. Chapter 5

Shan sprinted onwards, with the yells of Seth gradually fading behind him. He slowed, still running, telling himself he was safe now, that they couldn't get him now. Safe, and yet… something still didn't seem right. The world looked strange, distorted. As he leapt over a log that had fallen across the path, it came to him suddenly. Everything seemed really, weirdly… big. It was almost as if he'd shrunk. A bird of prey wheeling high above him in the blue expanse of the sky seemed miles away.

He felt the panic rise up again, threatening to again take control of his actions. He battled it down, fighting to stay calm. Panic attacks had saved him once today but-

The world still seemed weird. Looking around more didn't help - it just made him feel really small.

A bizarre idea sneaked its way into Shan's head. No, it was stupid… he shook his head. He glanced down at his feet anyway. The shock almost gave him a heart attack. Where feet should be, running along the forest path, there were four small rusty-brown paws. Fox's paws.

Shan had no time to contemplate this startling revelation, as he suddenly felt something close around him, trapping him. It lifted him into the air as he twisted and turned, trying to see what had caught him. As the trees fell away beneath him, Shan felt whatever it was that had lifted him up dig into his side, three sharp points against soft fur. Suddenly he remembered the bird he'd seen earlier, and looked up. Staring balefully down at him from above a hooked beak were the beady eyes of a buzzard.


	6. Chapter 6: The Third

This was crazy, complete madness. Buzzards didn't carry away foxes, they weren't strong enough to kill them, or even carry them very far. This one clearly seemed to be tiring, each beat of its powerful wings gaining them less and less height. They were, however, still too high for Shan to want to try and wriggle free.

At that moment, however, the buzzard started descending to the ground. As the trees grew closer, Shan started trying to squirm free. He couldn't think of any reason for a buzzard to pick up a fox that ended well for the fox.

The claws' grip tightened around him. The buzzard wasn't letting go, and dropped him centimetres from the ground before it landed itself. Shan landed with a thump. He picked himself up as fast as his four feet would allow, and glanced behind him before he set off, running away from the strange bird.

At least, that was the plan. He got as far as glancing behind him. Where the buzzard had landed only moments before, there now stood a girl, shaking the leaves from her hair.

Shan stopped and stared, completely confused, until he remembered his own foxy status. Another person who was also an animal? Another… shapeshifter?


	7. Chapter 7

Quite suddenly, the girl began to laugh. "What, thought you were the only one? You look pretty silly now… foxes don't do confused-face that well."

Shan kept staring.

"You should really shift back, you know," she continued chattily. "It's kinda hard to talk to you when you can't speak."

Shan kept staring. he had no idea how he had become a fox, so really didn't know how to stop being one.

"I'm guessing this is the first time you've shifted, since you appear to be stuck. Don't worry, it'll wear off soon, when you stop being terrified of the whole situation. If you're wondering, I was pretty freaked out too when I first became a fox. I mean, it's not something that happens normally. I remember half of me thinking, come on Adara (that's my name, by the way), get a grip, it's okay really; and the other half screaming: what the hell is going on? Why am I a fox? The trick is to ignore that part is there." She bent down and stared curiously at Shan. "You know, I didn't realise that foxes could even do that. You're still doing a very strange confused-face." Mutely, Shan tried to feel and - he hoped - look less confused. The whole situation was just too bizarre.

It began to dawn on him that Adara looked familiar. He wasn't exactly sure why - maybe he'd seen her in town sometime? Or at school?

As if to emphasize this point, Adara shifted into a fox. _Follow me_, she said with her ears, before running off the path. Diving into the undergrowth, Shan followed. He felt like he didn't really have a choice.


End file.
